Acoustics Facilities at BYU

What resources are available?

There are several physical facilities available on campus at BYU for acoustics and structural dynamics research. As a great benefit to undergraduate and graduate students, there is a strong culture of involving interested students early in research with laboratory-quality instrumentation and the training necessary to contribute to the greater acoustics community.

We’ve highlighted a few of the more significant research capabilities in this article.

The large anechoic chamber (anechoic: free from echo) is a research facility designed to absorb acoustic reflections. In this way it simulates free-field radiation conditions as if no walls were present, thus allowing an acoustic measurement to be conducted with minimal interference from room effects. With working dimensions of 8.71 x 5.66 x 5.74 m, the room is anechoic down to approximately 80 Hz and large enough to handle a variety of experiments. Within the chamber there are several accommodations, including:

Two-dimensional automated scanning/measurement acquisition system (third dimension of automated motion is currently under construction)

In addition to the large anechoic chamber, BYU also has a smaller anechoic chamber with working dimensions of 3.00 x 2.38 x 2.59 m. This chamber is anechoic down to 150 Hz but is also anechoic in the ultrasonic frequency range as well up to at least 100 kHz (whereas the large chamber's high frequency anechoic cutoff is around 20 kHz, due to the perforated metal covering on the wedges).

The variable acoustic chamber is suited for measurements where the acoustic properties of the room response may vary. Using removable paneling, sections of the walls or ceiling can be added or removed as necessary such that various acoustic conditions can be established in the enclosure. The working dimensions of this room are 3.57 x 2.88 x 2.59 m.

There are a number of resources available for performing the numerical analysis involved with projects. The software packages SysNoise, VitrualLab, IDEAS, CATT, EASE/EARS, Fluent, and FIDAP are available. Other fairly standard software packages, such as MATLAB and LabVIEW are also available. The research group has direct access to several PCs, and SGI workstations. Furthermore, BYU has one of the largest university owned supercomputing facilities, being ranked in the top five nationally. These supercomputers can run the SysNoise, IDEAS, and Fluent packages when needed, to take advantage of the parallel processing capabilities and faster computation times.

General purpose hardware, such as microphones, loudspeakers, signal filters, and amplifiers are also available to assist in the research. Multi-channel dynamic signal analyzers are available for general purpose measurements. Specialty analyzers are available for transducer and room acoustics measurements. A computer-controlled turntable may be used to rotate booms, sources, sensors, or arrays within chambers if required. An acoustic intensity probe is available for determining acoustic intensity in a sound field. General purpose hardware such as microphones, accelerometers, loudspeakers, shakers, and so forth are also available. A scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV) is available for noncontact structural vibration measurements.